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The University of Pittsburgh fanbase loves a good Tight End. Maybe it’s because Mike Ditka helped to define the position in the late 50’s when he played at Pitt (’58-’60) and in the 60’s when he played for Bears, Eagles and Cowboys. Maybe it’s because we were spoiled by Paul Chryst’s fine recruiting of the position and Matt Canada’s outstanding usage of it. Maybe it’s because we just love power football.

When you combine Sear, Reeves’ and Clark’s departures with the fact that Watson & Narduzzi had two tight ends de-commit from the 2018 recruiting class – Matt Alaimo and Jay Symonds, and one from 2019 – Travis Koontz, you can see why the fan base is concerned.

The crux of the issue, for both the fans and the players, is that that TE does not seem to be featured in the passing game. Featured may not even be the right word. “Used” is probably better, and “Considered” might just be the most accurate term, at least right now.

Take a look at this graph. It shows Pitt TE receptions as a % of the total receptions on the team, year over year. As you can see, they have declined.

% of Total Season Receptions by Pitt TE’s

The data tells us that Pitt TE’s caught 6% of total receptions in 2018, a five-year low. Even more telling is that 6% is a whopping 10 full percentage points lower then the next lowest totals on record (2014 and 2017 were 16% each). No wonder Tyler Sear was complaining.

But did he have a right to?

Here is a breakdown of Pitt receptions by position in 2018. Take a look at the Fullback Position. Given that our (outstanding) Fullback George Aston frequently lined up as an H-Back in 2018, it’s plausible that the “TE receptions” went to him (although I’ll admit we rarely saw Aston go over the middle, but then again we rarely saw Pickett throw over the middle…) Also while we are talking about Aston and receptions shifting from position to position, can you guess how many receptions Aston had in 2017? That is right, the answer is “none”.

171 Total Receptions in 2018. 15 for the Fullback. 10 for the Tight End224 Total Receptions in 2017. 0 for Fullback. 35 for the Tight End.

So a few things have become apparent.

One: There is a good chance that Aston was taking the Tight End’s target share in 2018.

Two: There is a probable chance that Watson was protecting Pickett by not having him throw over the middle, and this impacted TE production.

Three: There is a good chance that Tyler Sear was “not being a team player”, when he had his supposed argument with Narduzzi. Now I don’t know that for sure, but I do know that there were no public complaints from George Aston when his target share shifted to transfer Tight End Matt Flanagan in 2017. (Aston had 22 receptions in 2016. Flanagan had 17 in 2017.)

But I am not writing this piece to tilt public opinion of young Pitt Men (or Former Pitt Men) one way or the other. I am writing this piece to try to ascertain if Shawn Watson actually has a purebred dislike for throwing to the tight end.

My conclusion is that he probably does not, for a few reasons.

1. As I mentioned, some of the 2018 “TE” passes went to Aston, and it was clear that Pickett was generally being coached to avoid throws over the middle.

2. The TE was probably kept in on passing plays to protect more often.

3. It can probably be assumed Watson did not have a ton of talent or experience to work with in 2018.

4. Believe it or not, Watson has featured the Tight End in the past, and he has certainly used TE more than 6% on average throughout his career.

Now before you go skewering my Support of Watson (because I know it’s not a popular position right now), hear me out.

First of all, there is 2017. In 2017 Watson’s TE usage was 16%, which was on par with Paul Chryst’s 2014 TE usage, which was also 16%.

Editor’s Note: In 2014, under Paul Chryst, TE JP Holtz was second on the team in receptions with 21. 2014 was Tyler Boyd’s big 78 catch, 1261 yard year, and remember, 2014 quarterback (Chad Voytik) was not exactly prone to looking for his second or third receiver.

Second, it’s clear that Watson is looking for experience. Right, wrong or indifferent, we all know Pat Narduzzi (and by extension his coaching staff) love experience. Check out this chart below, and tell me why you think our TE’s were not thrown to.

Lastly, I am going to circle back to Watson’s historic usage of the Tight End. If he had a really good Tight End, would he just use him for blocking? History suggests he would not.

Watson has actually utilized the Tight End as an effective receiving weapon in several offenses. Of course it’s usually a Junior or a Senior with NFL-type talent. Pitt has had neither in the last two years, and the top TE recruits are probably unwilling to wait that long (Travis Koontz???) Nonetheless, if we can reel somebody in, and they can just be a little bit patient, good things await:

Case #2: Colorado 2004 / 2005: Tight End Joe Klopfenstein (what great name for a TE) caught 33 balls twice in a row. That’s three catches per game. He was drafted 46th overall in the 2006 draft.

Case #3: Nebraska 2008 / 2009: Tight End Mike McNeil averaged 30 catches per yer and 5 TD per year. He was not drafted into NFL.

Case #4: Louisville 2013: Tight End Gerald Christian (a transfer from the University of Florida) caught 28 balls and 4 TD’s. He was drafted in the 7th round of the 2014 draft.

So where does this leave Pitt? Well… without a top-flight Tight End for the time being. Apparently we are busy trying to sell JUCO pass-catching TE and former Pitt commit Travis Koontz on the running game. He would be plug-and-play in the passing game, but he certainly doesn’t seem interested in blocking. In fairness, it doesn’t sound like TE coach Tim Salem has his recruiting pitch dialed in. (Here is the PSN article in case you haven’t read it yet). Although you can argue that at least Salem is keeping it real.

We do have three-star Jason Collier in the fold. At 6-7, 280 sounds like he may be destined for Offensive Tackle. I’d wager he has no problem with blocking, although I wonder if he’d be a weapon is the passing game.

Carrigan will be a Junior but is more of a blocker than a pass catching threat.

Mimes is a converted Defensive End and is coming off of a redshirt.

Ironically converted DE Kaymar Mimes could be the position’s savior if he can be developed. He’s got plenty of height, speed and athleticism, and probably very few bad habits since he’s never really played the position. Of course developing him is a three year proposition at best. The simple fact of the matter is that unless the staff can miraculously reel in Travis Koontz (again) we are going to be looking at a lot of 6% – 16% usage over the next few years, and probably a steady flow of transfers both into and out of the program.

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Michaelangelo Monteleone (aka MA, MM, Mike...)
Michaelangelo holds a degree in Travel Writing from the University of Pittsburgh. He was a former staff writer for InPittsburgh Newsweekly, and currently resides near Atlanta, Georgia. He has been a Pitt fan since 1997 after he witnessed Pitt upset then #22 Miami on Thursday night.

PublishedDecember 9, 2018December 10, 2018

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145 thoughts on “Watson and the Tight End”

Obviously the primary purpose of the TE this year was to block. Since Watson has used the TE extensively in the past, I would have to think that Watson has little confidence in Pickett and/or little confidence in the TEs in being effective pass catchers.

Until we ran into the big boys the last 2 games, the lack of TE production was not missed.

Incidentally, here is a post in the PG this afternoon ..

Brian Batko@BrianBatko
23 minutes ago

Was listening to the Mike Tomlin Show today and he was asked about the Steelers backfield. In his answer, he said “One of the interesting things about watching the Pitt Panthers play this season is you didn’t know which one of those running backs was going to kill people.

The tight end conundrum is essentially the chicken and the egg: Is Watson reluctant, or incapable, of using a tight end OR do do we simply not possess one with route-running, pass-catching ability?
In any event, it’s a downward spiral.
I never thought Reeves was the answer – too big.
Tyler Sear quit, mid-season, Notre Dame week.
Gragg got raves during the pre-season…of course, that was released through the HCPN spin club.

In my humble opinion, we don’t have the horses to man the position. Our recruiting has been subpar, and while it is easy to blame Watson, no amount of creativity can make a lame dog hunt.

What an awful position to be in. Awful! The reality is that we have been playing substitutes at the TE position for the majority of this season. The big boys didn’t expose the lack of TE presence.They are not tight ends. I think Gragg even said he liked to be used in a split out role. Good grief!

Forgot the Clarke debacle in the analysis as well.

To me, it’s not the point of whether you have confidence to pass the ball down the middle. You need to, at a minimum pose a threat to throw the ball down the middle and at least have a defender or two be responsible…for defending that part of the field.

Best reason why Pitt can’t recruit 4 and 5 star talent at WR or TE was reported this week. It’s because we want to run the ball and tell all recruits we are going to do just that. Please say our coach isn’t telling recruits that want to catch the ball, that Pitt wants to run the ball. Good grief! It’s tough enough as it is.

I guess the positive of having all your recruited TE’s gone, is that you can get early playing time and convince coaches to throw the ball at some point to you.

MM, given the scenario you described, that if Watson had the players he would pass to the TE more, wouldn’t it make sense for Salem to tell Koontz that they want to start integrating the TE position into the passing game? I just don’t see any logical strategy here.

I believe it is harder to develop a passing game than a running game. So why is Narduzzi talking down the passing game? Yes, he is getting a 4 star RB or two, but at the expense of WRs, TEs, a throwing QB and a few pass blocking O linemen? Is it any wonder the recruiting is bad?

Here’s a thought, why not get Aaron Mathews to put on 20 lbs of muscle.
He is already a ferocious down field blocker, He looked good on at least one slant this year, never understood why they didn’t use it more often. In any case he is 6′ 4″ 215 lbs right now, so another 20lbs and he is pretty good size for a tight end and probably doesn’t lose any speed. A good career move for him too?

Whether he deserves his reputation as an OC who doesn’t use the TE as a receiver or not, we’d benefit if he did. And if we want to get the attention of top HS TEs, we are going to need to show we are willing to do that. I hope sees it that way and that next year’s offense shows it.

Getting back to Watson he shows so little in what an OC should be today that IMO he is the core of the problem. We were a one dimension offense that never the less won the coastal division with it. However our opponents preparing for Pitt defensively never had to spend much time thinking about what Pitt was going to do offensively.—-On the TE position our pass blocking was so bad and Pickett so poor at picking out any alternate receiver that Watson never wanted to use the TE much beyond using him as another run blocker.

I think MM hit the nail on the head when he said Pickett isn’t comfortable throwing over the middle, which is where the average TE can do the most damage. But I don’t know why Pickett isn’t comfortable throwing over the middle — is it simply because our TEs have bad hands and/or aren’t good enough playmakers, so we don’t look their way (or we don’t even send them out in a pattern)? Or is it something with Pickett? Does he personally make such a big deal with “not throwing interceptions” like he bragged about during preseason camp, and he doesn’t want to throw over the middle where there is the most traffic? Or is this coming from Watson — is Watson putting this in his head that he needs to avoid any INTs because, like we saw against Clemson, throwing a pick can be a killer when you operate a ball control heavy run offense? The data MM provided showing Watson’s history of using TEs suggests it isn’t Watson, but who knows how much control of the offense Watson truly has.

The big programs find it easy to shut down a one dimensional team which is exactly what happened this year. Pitt and it’s Offensive Coordinator made it easy for their opponent to defend. This is not acceptable at the college level which was my original point.

What is even crazier is that our head coach made a living out of stopping the run from some major big10 programs and forcing them to do something they weren’t comfortable doing, which was matriculating the ball successfully through the air. In other words, Narduzzi should know better than any other ACC coaches how easy we are to defend when you have a decent defense.

Running the ball against weaker defenses is easier and perhaps our coaches became enamored with their success. Pitt needs to change, stat.

So my larger question to our coaches would be….what do you do during the offseason when it comes to play design or new play offerings when all you are doing in reality is running left, running right, running straight and running around end? This smells like laziness which is never acceptable.

Good article. I totally agree that Watson would use the TE if he had a good fast one and the OL didn’t need the help.

I think you have to look at the personnel Pitt had on the offensive side of the ball. Any OC is going to play to the team strengths. That was obviously running the ball.

The OL and TEs were a patch work of older guys. None of which were good pass blockers. There was no stand out WR. Pitt’s best players on offense were the running back and full back. Watson really had no choice but to go run heavy. The ended up being quite good at it so he had to stick with it.

I think Mimes will be the answer IF the OL improves and Pitt gets some more dynamic WRs.

I still believe next years RBs will be more dynamic and the OL will be as good run blocking.

Probably my biggest disappointment this year was Pickett being less of a playmaker than I expected him to be. There were a few times when he made something out of very little. I also noted during the Georgia Tech game when I sat in the 5th Level that he was hesitant in throwing the ball to an open receiver …. including waiting to throw a long pass that should have been a sure TD but ended in an interception, which made the game unnecessarily close.

Of course, it was easy for me to look down over the field and see the open receivers as opposed to being field level and having guys chasing me.

I don’t see the WRs as a big problem …. or at least near the top of the list of issues this coming season. Ffrench, Carter, Saint-Louis, Mathews, Tipton and Mack all return. We can only hope that another year experience for the QB and WRs will improve the passing game

Lots of good thoughts and speculation in these posts…better recruiting will take care a lot of our warts…..

Going to be interesting to see how Mack Brown fairs..I doubt he will be a Johnny Majors redux…I expect he will be more of a CEO and hire top notch highly paid coaches and recruiters to go out and get the job done…Carolina wants to win badly….they tire of only being able to beat the PITT Panthers…..

It all comes down to the quality of the players. Coaching can make a difference but if the player is not capable of executing the play a high enough percentage of the time coaching doesn’t matter. Our current tight ends, like our O-line were good enough to beat most Coastal teams, but not god enough to put up much of a battle vs elite teams. The problem is in recruiting. Next year is the acid test, all players will be Narduzzi recruits.

If Morrisey does not recover, we will have 100% new starters on the O-line except for Hargrave with 2 starts.
The biggest question will be our O-Tackles. Will they be good enough to protect the QB? They will be assisted by our tight ends. For the second year in a row they will be the weakest link.

Much credit should be given to Borbely and the O-line this year, they did produce a solid running game and won the Coastal. We have to hope that Borbely can make a decent line out of what he has next year.

However, we can’t expect too much due to the dearth of experience that we will have on the line, at full back and at running back.

As wbb says we will have experienced Receivers and QB, but none of them really distinguished themselves as next level players this year. Mack and Ffrench were pretty good, the others had a few good plays. Jacque-Louis dropped too many balls imho, but does get open.

Running backs are a big question mark, but they did come with stars, so we should be OK.

The offense will only be as good as the O-line, and the tight end is an integral part of that. Hopefully they are all in the weight room a lot.

Without digging any deeper (I’m sure there are many more examples) of seniors in high school being 4 and 5* players that really never made an impact in college. Again, YES, the more highly a player is rated the chances go up on the player making an impact but NO it’s certainly not a certainty. Not to mention these types of players right out of high school, do not fall out of the sky and land in Oakland Pa if Narduzzi wiggles his nose and clicks his heels. We need to get over and past the star gazing for those two reasons. . . . ike

are these busts because the players didnt have the right work ethic and attitude
is it because of injury
is it because the coaches didnt know how to further develop and use them
lets just not pick on 4 and 5 stars
i can show you a bigger list of transfers and 3 stars that didnt make it for whatever reason
theres also bias/adverse selection in any list of elites that transfer over…big red flag to me
the bigger question becomes – why does Narduzzi need transfers and why do these elites flame out at Pitt?

Obviously you need transfers when you have holes or weak spots in the roster. For a middle of the pack recruiting team like Pitt, that’s going to happen (especially when you throw in coaching turn-overs).

Seems like transferring has become much more common – and can be a good thing for both parties.

I don’t understand the angst over taking transfers — especially when everyone agrees that we haven’t been able to bring in elite recruiting classes in decades…

Sorry to say but Kenny Pickett is way late making his throws. He’s more worried about throwing an interception then he is about throwing a completion. IMO, he’s actually over-coached and unnatural in the pocket. PITT needs a quarterbacks coach! << and a new offensive coordinator. ike

My point Tx was that being and getting a 5* player is not the be all and end all that many people think they are. Another thing, be careful when saying you can show me many 3* talents not working out for two reasons. The % of 3‘s making an impact is a lot lower plus the % of 5‘s floundering may actually be higher considering there is not that many 5* players compared to 3*’s in the first place.

—Robert Foster seems to be doing in the NFL what he never seemed to do at Bama. Maybe he was getting crappy coaching at Bama. .. 😊

—Also, Coach Duzz was snake-bitten on a few of the early elite recruits he brought in. Lost a couple of them for medical reasons. They could have had a big impact on the team. These guys were a couple of the Star play-makers that we’ve been missing.

One, for example, was Hill, the kid from Ohio. Looked like he would have easily been the fastest player on the team.

ike, looking at your list, it is clear that none of these players flamed out because their athletic ability was lacking. Most were head cases or were lacking in work ethic. It seems to me that this would be common to all level of recruits. I would rather take my chances on a 4-5 star flaming out than a 3 star who might flame out, or in addition might not have the athletic skills to compete at a high level.

If you remember correctly the last set of 5* players we obtained had all already PROVEN they were busts for a various amount of reasons with the ORIGINAL schools they committed to, then, to the Community Colleges they had to go to, etc, etc, etc. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME PITT ACTUALLY RECRUITED THEIR OWN 5* RIGHT OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL???? These proven FAILURES (over and over again) who no one wants, are the only 5*s Pitt has gotten the past 5 years!

Khem Birch was the beginning of the end for Dixon. The shame is that Birch was a good defensive specialist that would have helped Pitt if he stayed and probably himself. He cost us another very good player by coming and when Adams left early the big man cupboard was bare. The real shame is if both Adams and Birch stuck around we probably win the ACC in our first season, which could have changed everything. Imagine a season with Adams, Birch, Zanna and Patterson.

Why are arguing about 4 and 5 star players? Yes, a percentage of them are busts, but we will gladly take them when they are available …. (and most importantly) are willing. But there’s the rub!

I believe the last 5-star we got was Dorian Johnson back in 2013. He was the local kid who was courted by Joe Rudolph (fellow Belle-Vernonen),, then took a visit to Happy Valley and committed before he left town.

I think if you look at foster the last 3 weeks in the nfl, he is doing as good or better than most 4 and 5 stars of his class. He just picked the wrong school for playing time. Luckily he is fast enough to get a look and is making good with it so far. Actually, he preserved his body by not playing much too, although oft injured at Bama.

@Ike – I don’t think it is getting just one 5 star. It is getting 4-6 four stars so that as some flame out, you have others to take their place, etc. I think we have had some 4 stars that leave, but we don’t replace them with other 4 stars. That leaves a gap.

Huff the Third, after the Bama’s, Irish, Ohio State’s and such pick over the cream of the crop, there simply isn’t enough elite prospects left to allow PITT to get one 5* player let alone multiple 5* players

Thanks Jim and you helped make my point. I wasn’t necessarily talking about PITT as I was the players themselves. My point was that these were indeed 4 and 5* players that everyone in the country coveted yet they didn’t pan out like their lofty expectations projected they would.

To answer your question about when did PITT actually recruit a 5* stud out of high school. Probably Wanny, who PITT promptly fired after the teams he coached won 27 games his last three years.

The key is getting elite players, doesn’t matter the number when they come, it is the number (NFL Draft) when they leave that counts. Other considerations are do they fit in the program and do they fill a position of need? How much do they contribute while they are here?

Exactly gc, PITT has and continues to put a lot of players in the NFL, I find that interesting considering all the complaints about PITT’s recruiting. I thought we all agreed that we all want PITT to receive 22 verbals from 5* players each and every year? BTW, you do know that Rivals only awards 50 high school players the rating of 5* per year? PITT fans are barking up the wrong tree!

unless Pitt has outstanding coaching and is great at developing players, Pitt will lose to the Miami’s because they have far superior talent. Pitt will most likely never reach Miami levels for talent but it can do a much better job than it has been. And a better job coaching.

and is unranked and has 4 blow out losses plus a loss to one of the worst P-5 teams
and was considered a ‘joke’ by the vast majority of people and media who watched the championship game
i would have rather of not won the coastal and be ranked like cuse and nc state and going to good bowls

Narduzzi is recruiting 4-stars, he’s just not getting many. It’s not for a lack of effort.

There are many reasons for this ….. competition, recent program success (or lack thereof), a dying local recruiting base, (lack of ) attendance, style of play, geography …..

As I have been saying for a long while …. the key for Pitt’s success are the 3-stars, not the 4-stars. It’s recognizing the 3-stars that have a big upside and much potential, it’s the 3-stars who has the body type to develop, it’s the 3-stars that fit into Pitt’s style of play, and of course, it’s the 3-stars who want to play at Pitt,

Per Rivals, O’Neil, D Lewis, Q Henderson, Ollison, Sheard, Blades, Session, Lee, S Spencer, Donald and Revis were 3-stars …. and that’s just a very small percentage of Pitt 3-star players who really contributed in the past 2 decades

But what “percentage” of Pitt’s 3 star recruits became top players in college or the NFL? We could go on and on about the 3 stars who were busts, but no one remembers them since they were not expected to do well in most cases. We can talk forever about this subject, but Pitt has been recruiting 3 star athletes for 35 years, and Pitt is still a mediocre program. It takes recruiting 4 star athletes to move into higher levels.

you missed my entire point. Pitt cannot recruit 4 and 5 stars on a regular basis. There are just too many other attractive places to go for a variety of reasons. Thus, 3-stars are the lifeblood of the program, and Pitt will make it or break it with them

Thanks Tvax, I did read that wrong. It’s still hard to recruit a half dozen 4* recruits if the surrounding area doesn’t provide that kind of depth. I will say though, a 5.7 3* is practically the same type of player.

Getting back to the topic of Offensive Coordinator, can someone answer a question that has been puzzling me? We frequently bemoan what we consider a bad play call after it fails. What I’ve wondered is how much time the OC has to decide a play? Admittedly I never played football at even the high school level, so my thoughts are limited to what I am watching. Here is what I see:

At the whistle to end a play, the 40 second play clock is begun. The OC has to determine the down and distance remaining. Hopefully that’s obvious at the whistle but not always. The OC uses some thought process to decide the next play. The OC then sends that play by radio to someone (or multiple someones?) on the sideline. Someone on the sideline needs to send the correct players out onto the field to match the play called. Someone on the sideline needs to relay the play call to the quarterback through some type of hieroglyphics or hand signals, including enough unrelated signals so as to mask the real call and keep the opposition from deciphering the plays.

The quarterback sees the sideline call then looks over his wristband cheat sheet. The quarterback shares the play call with the team in the huddle. Maybe there is an alternate call made in the huddle in case the defense gives a different look, I don’t know. Maybe the quarterback has some reminders to pass along specific to that play, again, I don’t know. Finally the quarterback has to give a snap count, making sure that it is varied to keep the defense honest.

They break the huddle and line up. The quarterback looks over the D and maybe calls an audible to change the play. If he is allowed that ability, he’ll need time to make that happen. Players go into their shifts or go in motion. Snap count is barked and the ball is snapped.

My guess is that the OC has between 5 and 10 seconds to decide the next play. Any longer than that and you risk not getting the right personnel on the field or eliminate the quarterback’s ability to look over the D and change the play. But maybe our quarterback isn’t given that option.

On a related note, does anyone have any idea how many plays we have in our playbook? Is the OC looking over 40? 50? 80?

Looking for some insight from our football gurus on here. What say you?

I agree WWB. Much easier to make the next call when your jet sweep on 1st and 10 gains eight yards. Lots of options there. But when the same sweep is blown up by penetration and becomes a four yard loss, then what? Especially when calling a pass play on an obvious passing down gets your quarterback decapitated.

My original post was not meant to defend or criticize Shawn Watson, all OCs are in the same situation. Just that the task seems awfully complicated to me when I try to step through the process.

Maybe the spread offenses that look to the sideline for the play call after they line up have a significant advantage. The OC has much more time to decide the play and even has the luxury of looking over the defensive alignment before the call. The downside would be that you are limited to the personnel on the field at that time.

Farmers, that’s why almost all teams have big chart sheets for the OC to look over. There are various plays for all situations of down and distance. I’m guessing once the down and distance is known to the OC he quickly looks at his chart and makes the call. He notifies the sideline and the number of the play is signaled in to the QB which also is on his wrist cheat sheet.

Play calling is more about the players executing the play than the call itself. Thus Watson as wwb suggests, becomes an idiot again when PITT played Miami and Clemson…… and off we go as dogs chasing our tails once more.

If you want to get ahead of the game and get more 4 stars to commit, try offering them FIRST, so your program will always hold a place with the recruit. This is basic how to close a deal scenario. How many times have you seen in the last month where Pitt has offered a 2020 or 2021 talent, only to read that he has already been offered by stronger P5 schools. At that point, we don’t stand out to a recruit. We are just a mediocre P5 team that offered.

The other way, if Pitt recognizes talent, they should move on it. The worst that can happen is that they rescind the offer if it doesn’t work out later in the process (which is done a lot by the big programs), and why we get some late kids that are 4 stars that got over recruited in their own class (see sibley, etc.).

Pitt needs to work harder up front and not wait for all these other programs to recognize talent. It is not hard for a coach to talk to a high school coach wherein a relationship has already been formed and ask that coach “who do you have that can be a diamond in three years”? At that point you can take a flier on a kid if it is a future position of need.

Gotta be different. Find a way to do things that separate yourself from the others.

Also, and listen Narduzzi, you need to hire recruiters that are young and that know how to communicate with these kids…and be fun!! C’mon man, it’s easier if you know how to play the game.

I don’t think it’s being fair not give Watson any credit for the 4-game win streak. Those teams were comparable to Pitt. Alan Saunders’ showed some offensive formations and positioning of wide-outs that influenced defensive personnel alignments in ways that appeared to helped Pitt have big plays…

I suspect that being an OC is a lot more complicated than we might think for schools that don’t have the elite personnel…

But I do agree that Watson doesn’t use some plays that would seem to be obvious to use when your OLine is struggling to provide protection…and that is maddening.

Wish we could sit down and have a discussion with Watson! Would be fascinating! Maybe Reed/Michaelangelo can use their connections to set that up! (How about donate X amount to the Athletic Department for a chalk-talk and Q&A with Coach Watson!)

I agree Huff the Third and will add even though the play calling seemed fairly simplified, it also showed Watson could identify the one and only strengths of PITT and Pickett’s offensive capabilities. Which in actuality, wasn’t all that hard to do after the first 3 or 4 games.

well, since Pitt is a basketball school and badly needs a skilled big man, I will post the following from Cardiac Hill about 4-star Qudus Wadus, a 4-star center who s announcing on Thursday. Most so-called experts have him as between Georgetown and Pitt. It seems that for years now, Pitt has been the bridesmaid when it comes to nailing a big time center. (Adams was last one but Dixon had inside track due to his New Zealand connection)

Everyone must be out buying Christmas presents, ike! I’m hoping for a pass catching tight end in my Christmas stocking. And if the stocking is big enough, maybe a couple of 300 lb stud OLs.

Right now, I think we are all waiting for Pat signals on the remaining slots for this recruiting class. When the Dec 19th early signing period went into effect, PN said that he regarded it as a must sign period for offers or they would start looking elsewhere. So let’s see how many of this class, which I guess now numbers 19, they will sign. There are so many needs that are not addressed in this class. Let’s hope that there are some surprise JUCOs or transfers that are yet to be announced.

I’m thinking Cabel ends up with 4 scholarships to offer, so at least 2 bigs are needed along with a scoring forward and a good shooting 2 guard. I like that he hasn’t settled on mediocre players and is holding out for top level.

I thought the play calling against Miami and Clemson was totally different than how Pitt played the majority of the rest of the season. I hardly remember Picket lining up in shotgun on 1st and 2nd downs most of the year, but against Miami and Clemson, I remember him doing this multiple times looking for that RPO perhaps? I know Miami and Clem have strong D’s and they probably did this to give Pickett more time but it just wasn’t working at all. Was use to Pitt lining up all year under center for the majority of their plays. I feel like they got away from what brought them to the dance and tried to get fancy last two games,saw hints of this in the Wake game too. As far as all the delay of game penalties especially coming out of a time out or start of a new quarter is a joke, that falls on the OC in my opinion

They obviously had no answer for a the D-lines that were manhandling them. Wonder how much a healthy Morrisey would have helped. Hopefully the additional time till the bowl game will make a difference.

Seems like there should have been some plays to counter the rush.

Agree totally on not getting the plays called in a timely manner. Definitely on the coaches.

I wouldn’t necessarily blame the coaches. They had issues on the very first play of drives vs Clemson. That cannot be a function of getting the play in late as they already had it from huddling on the sideline

shaman87..We were more evenly paired with most of the schedule in the ACC and we won most and shoulda won all of the Coastal game (damn Tarheel game) The way we blew out VT was amazing to see. Not seeing a replay I would suspect Bud Foster had his LBs attacking to stop the run and once we got by “it was off to the races.” Wake held their LBs back and let them read the flow. The Deacs were more effective in slowing our run game but Kenny came through with an excellent day airing it out -even across the middle of the field-for one game our offence looked normal-you know the kind we see from other teams playing on Saturdays…

Jimmy’s injury had to have an adverse affect on the O-line as he was the QB of that group…..they made their new edition debut against a “hungry for revenge” Hurricane team who had plenty of film and learn our “O” tendencies and couple that with a D-line full of top draft picks and speed….we know jet sweeps just don’t work too well vs speed…at least I haven’t seen it ..they knew our non-existant passing attack over the middle, including anemic TE contribution…our “O” was a bit schizo during the year..Jekyll and Hyde….hope we beat Stanford to end the year with a happy. happy, happy 8 wins heading into next year…we could see more of the same on the “O” side of the ball.

“D” was solid and could definitely play with Miami and played well vs Clemson for prolong periods but couldn’t overcome mistakes and got no help from the “O” in either of those games….

one final note..the WUPs flag didn”t make the journey to Miami or Clemson….and now to pay off the bookie for that $100 I placed on Syracuse knowing I would lose the money totally changing the out-come of that game…

The case to go to an 8 team playoff gaining momentum as the ncaa is nearing halfway point of current tv contract. Looks like 2021 will be the year of an 8 team playoff. P5 Champs and three at large with first round at lowest seed home stadium.

I think the games this year would have been:

Washington at Alabama
UCF at Clempson
Ohio State at Notre Dame
Georgia at Oklahoma

Who wouldn’t want to see that! The sticking point is about what to do with a 7-5 Pitt upsetting Clempson in the ACC Championship game. Does Pitt get left out since they are not in top 8 even though a champion in theory? Another reason why you schedule a 3-1 ooc slate. Pitt at 9-3 would have been ranked between 11-15 going into clempson game. Beat Clempson and it’s an easier argument to put them in at 8.

I heard on ESPN radio a few weeks ago that there is no “appetite” amongst NCAA brass to expand the playoffs unless it is done in conjunction with less regular season games or the elimination of conference championship games…I take this to mean the playoffs will not be expanded.

Frankly, the reason there is a four team playoff is to be certain that the best two teams get a shot a the championship. There was often much debate about 1 and 2 or 2 and 3, but no one can say the four playoff teams this and past years did not include at least the best two teams (sorry UGA and UCF). Somehow along the way it became about the four best teams. So now we debate 4 and 5 or 5 and 6. If the playoff goes to eight teams, how long before the endless conversations about 8 and 9 or 9 and 10, followed by the calls for a ten team playoff?

If your team can’t gain consensus for a spot in the top 4, your team does not deserve to compete for the championship.

HgbFrank— disagree with you because I think any championships should go to who wins the championship by going thru the gauntlet. Does the best team in the NFL win the Super Bowl? Usually, but not always. How about the year that the Steeler’s were the last team in the playoff and won it all.

IMHO, An underdog winning the championship game is what makes sports so interesting.

You should have to prove it on the field with all the pressure on — not by acclimation of the media.

I believe the NCAA, as it exists now, will be totally irrelevant by 2025. If not out of the football and basketball business entirely if they thwart an 8 team footbnall playoff system, as well as more expansion to March madness.

Too much $$$$ involved to deny TV an 8 game playoff. Advertisers will push the issue. Quasi amatuer revenue sports will be a thing of the past.

Pitt will get lost in this shuffle as far as football goes – too clean. JMHO

Hbg – That was before the big10 got left out for the second time in a row. It’s all about money.

Think about this. If Georgia would have beat out oklahoma this year (and it was close), there would have only been 2 P5 conferences represented (SEC and ACC). Follow the cash Frank. Gordon Gee and many others are making a move on this. Heard it on Monday. Stay tuned.

If you go back in football years, BYU had a couple of undefeated seasons and UCF had two where they finished ranked 8th in polls. Noone ever claimed a national title or legitimately argued that they won a title when they finished ranked 9 or worse. This also eliminates those teams contentions and gives them a chance to lose a game. 8 is your max.

Been typing an expansion to 8 when they started with 4. Need to understand the money flow to determine why expansion is needed. TV deal is so important too, so you make the change in mid deal year in order to organize it and then pounce for big money when up for re-negotiation. 2021 is getting close to the expiration of the current deal and will be huge money if expansion occurs.

HAd I been on the committee this year, I would have put georgia in and left out ND, thuys making ND join a P5 conference, but I didn’t get to vote…this time!

Gordon, thanks for the Steely Dan post..
Love those guys. Aja is one of my favorite albums…yes I said album. 41 years ago! Yipes.
Like a good tailgate, if you get the right mix of session players it’s a successful event.
Why party with the same 5 people every game? Haha.

I suspect the scholarships left to offer are few and they need an OT or two, plus they are still hoping for one or two of the supposedly higher ranked recruits, like Devonshire… Oh, and a TE who can get open and catch the ball would be nice…

I wonder when did Narduzzi become so enamored with Pickett. Did one game with Miami do it? Has he become so blinded by one game that he will overlook a season of mediocrity to anoint him the starter next year without real competition?

VoR, I understand and mostly agree with your post. However, I would have to think that Pickett was felt to be by the coaching staff to be the best choice. They see these QBs every day in practice and scrimmages, and don’t understand why the coaches wouldn’t play the guy who they thought would give the team the best chance to win.

One thought for consideration … OC Warson did not recruit Pickett, However, apparently he is the reason that the 4-star Beville is coming to Pitt, and enrolling in January. From what I read, Beville has really good tools, he is 6’6, has a really good arm, and is mobile judging from his highlights.

While I expect Pickett to be the starter in Sept, I think he is going to feel the heat that he will have to improve or lose his job (eventually).

Huff III…I get it that the expansion is all about the money, so I submit that if the NCAA decides to force its top teams to play a three round playoff and as many as 16 games, then it is time for the players to unionize. If the money being made by the teams (and coaches) keeps growing, then the compensation of a college scholarship and a small stipend for the players is no longer adequate.

OOC – For those that believe that football schedules are completed 10 years in advance, you might want to look at Pitt’s schedule into the future at PSN. We just finished the 2020 schedule. There are still two ooc openings in 2021 and 2022. We just added TN in those years or there would have been 3 vacancies.

Now for the real not so good scheduling – our OOC so far in 2023 is Cincy, WV and ND. We are stupid and will never learn how to schedule to help the program. That can easily be 0-3 if Fickel keeps recruiting hard. Why not add Auburn to round out the last game. This is why I struggle with our AD’s Ike. We should always be 3-1 at a minimum ooc.

In 24 and 25 there are still 2 ooc games to be scheduled and for all years after, there are 3 games still to be scheduled ooc. So again, for all those that say we schedule so far out, that is just a farce that is force fed to fans to tell them to shut up and there is nothing the AD can do about it. What is fixed 10 years out is the flippin conference games. We need to quit believing the talking heads who think they are smarter because they repeat what the SID tells them.

Huff, I do and have totally agreed with you on the OOC schedule at this point. It’s what we both agree should happen but I’m thinking Lyke’s job is a little bit more complicated than the OOC schedule. Again, if PITT had Syracues’s schedule this year they would be in the top twenty for sure. UCF was an absolute aberration. << Then again, UCF is in central Florida. hmmm…

Understood Ike. My point on this was to actually look at the next 10 years of scheduling and to finally realize that the OOC is not scheduled out so far in advance as everyone reports it to be. I think people believe a lot of crap about how things work in the Athletic Administration and it just isn’t true. That bothers me a lot.

The only games on the schedule 10 years out are primarily the ACC opponents.

Not poking at you brother, just explaining the realities and trying to cut through the BS. Would have loved the Syracuse record even if they aren’t as good as the record would seem to indicate. That will help them recruit after a couple of years of those records. My fear is we get left behind because of our record due to our lack of scheduling prowess. Why are we different? Do we think we are smarter? We are not.

Sometimes we are our own worst enemy. We should cancel PSU for next year and adjust future schedules to only have one P-5 OOC game each year, at least until we are worthy. Total wins matter most in the current environment. Paterno became a legend playing cupcakes. Dumped us when we became a threat.

Pitt is losing a lot of talent next year – 19 seniors to be replaced – mind you there is a lot of “mediocre” talent leaving. Name two players with above average talent that will make their first start next season and will help move Pitt to the “next” level.

The “next” level is where Pitt needs to get to in order to beat psuX next season.

I’m still sore from the last two beat downs Pitt took on the FB field.

EE, I’ll compile a list for you in a few days but I’ll just say, as you alluded to, that most of the 19 seniors were not all that highly regarded. I’m not in the camp of the thought that Narduzzi’s recruiting has been subpar, no surprise there, I see a ton more athleticism in the future for this PITT football team.

Ike, EE and others you might want to check out PSN article today on Pitt offering both an 8th and 9th grade player from Cocoa HS in Fla. And by the way the 8th grader played every game at CB this year. My guess however is that Pitt will have to beat out about 40 programs each for their services.

This is my post from Monday. Lo and behold it looks like Pitt has finally offered their first 8th and 9th grader a football scholarship according to PSN!! It happened either this morning or yesterday. Yipppeeee! The pair of them sound like studs in Cocoa Beach, FL. Way to go Charlie!! If they are good enough, you offer. Now Pitt has an in and they need to harvest that relationship. That’s just good recruiting effort.

Huff III
December 10, 2018 at 4:33 pm

If you want to get ahead of the game and get more 4 stars to commit, try offering them FIRST, so your program will always hold a place with the recruit. This is basic how to close a deal scenario. How many times have you seen in the last month where Pitt has offered a 2020 or 2021 talent, only to read that he has already been offered by stronger P5 schools. At that point, we don’t stand out to a recruit. We are just a mediocre P5 team that offered.

The other way, if Pitt recognizes talent, they should move on it. The worst that can happen is that they rescind the offer if it doesn’t work out later in the process (which is done a lot by the big programs), and why we get some late kids that are 4 stars that got over recruited in their own class (see sibley, etc.).

Pitt needs to work harder up front and not wait for all these other programs to recognize talent. It is not hard for a coach to talk to a high school coach wherein a relationship has already been formed and ask that coach “who do you have that can be a diamond in three years”? At that point you can take a flier on a kid if it is a future position of need.

Gotta be different. Find a way to do things that separate yourself from the others.

Also, and listen Narduzzi, you need to hire recruiters that are young and that know how to communicate with these kids…and be fun!! C’mon man, it’s easier if you know how to play the game.

The rish are going to get richer soon. Big case being decided in the next few weeks about increasing stipend for athletes and that each conference will set the stipend for their schools. The problem is that the conferences cannot talk to each other about stipend details or risk being charged with collusion. This case will be interesting.

We joke above about cadillacs and ferrari’s, but it might get to that very shortly. We can see stipends go from their current 4k-7k per year to 25k. At that point, you are either in the game, or out. What will the ACC do?